COP Launches World Cups; See Olympic Greats Compete

At A Glance

Where

Canada Olympic Park, 88 Canada Olympic Road SW, Calgary, AB T3B 5R5

When

Dec 6, 2010 - Feb 27, 2011

Canada Olympic Park (COP) just finished the first of four World Cups it plans on hosting this winter. The training center for WinSport Canada may offer the chance for Albertans to watch some of its homegrown Olympic heroes compete in live instead of televised competitions.

The FIBT World Cup Calgary brought the best skeleton and bobsleigh athletes to COP for several days of competitions that ended Saturday, Dec. 4. The competition offered a chance for Albertans to see some of the Canadian winners of last year's four Olympic medals in the two sports.

"It's exciting because all the athletes from the Olympics will be competing this year on the World Cup," Brendon Arnold, spokesperson for COP, told us. "The best thing is the World Cups are all free to watch." Admission to COP is free for spectators to events, but lift tickets are required for skiing or snowboarding.

The World Cup schedule continues this week with the Viessman World Cup Luge, Dec. 6-11. Freestyle and snowboard World Cup competitions come later in winter to COP when viewers may have a change to see some of the new Canadian Olympic heroes. Canada vaulted several freestylers to hero status last winter when Alex Bilodeau won the first Olympic gold on Canadian soil in Men's Moguls and Jennifer Heil took a silver in Women's Moguls.

The Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix, the freestyle skiing World Cup, comes Jan. 25-29 to COP. The event should give viewers a chance to see the Bilodeau and Heil compete live. The Calgary event, which includes competitions in moguls and aerials only, is the last of 10 tour stops that leads up to the Freestyle World Championships in Deer Valley, UT.

The LG FIS Snowboard World Cup is schedule to run Feb. 21-27. COP's snowboard events include Half Pipe and Slope Style.